The Day The World Turned Dayglo

Dark, dingy & sweaty it was almost everything that a music venue should be, the only thing that was missing was a bar. A completely dry venue (though nothing stopping you having a few Theakstons in the back bar of The Prospect beforehand) and yet it was still full of people having a great time. The stage wasn’t up to much either come to think of it, it was just a platform in the corner raised up about 4 inches above the “dancefloor”.

Punk’s d-i-y ethic reached Harrogate in the form of PG’s club which was opened in 1977 by Paul Gerrett, former keyboard player of Wally. It came at just the right time for me, I was 17 going on 18 and spending any spare time I had spinning choons on my dansette in my bedroom. Unable to get a licence from the local, very conservative, council Paul went ahead and opened a glorified youth club in the centre of town above some shops, over 2 floors. By day it operated as just a coffee bar but of course the music was better and they put on gigs in the evening whenever they could.

I possess no tickets for the place as I don’t think they issued them, just turn up and pay on the door. Consequently I have only a few memories of some of the gigs I went to there. I specifically remember seeing X-ray Spex and Wire and know that I went to see The Boys too but beyond that…

X-Ray Spex at PGs in Harrogate on Saturday 22nd April 1978

It was manic, by far and away the biggest attendance the club had ever had. They were just about to release “The Day The World Turned Gayglo” and were brimming with confidence, energy and defiance. The crowd was absolutely manic and started to encroach onto the very low stage and a line of regulars had to form a human chain at the front to protect the performers from the joyous, exuberant, hot, sweaty audience dancing their hearts out. (also here)

Wire at PGs in Harrogate on Saturday 29th April 1978

In contrast, the following week was rather quiet. It was the day before the Rock Against Racism Rally in Victoria Park and a lot of the local youth were heading down there. I wanted to be there too as The Clash were playing but I had a university interview in Manchester on the Monday so couldn’t make it. But despite the small crowd, Wire were fantastic and I seem to remember they encored with 12XU which sent us all into a frenzy of pogoing.

I still prefer my gigs this way. OK, I've been to see bands at the NEC and I love Glastonbury but give me a small venue any day.

Brought to you by this, this and this.

To The Urban Man

I’ve been to lots of gigs over the years, well I have been around a long time, and in that time have accumulated a lot of tickets from said gigs. So I thought I’d go through them and blog about them and see what, if anything I can remember.

Given that it’s been a pretty significant part of my life, there are undoubtedly a lot of memories tangled up in that box of tickets and hopefully as I work my way through the box, many will come flooding back. Though given that live music has usually been accompanied by a fair amount of cider it remains to be seen what my recall will be like.

At the moment I haven’t a clue what will come out as I start my journey through my life and whether or not it will be at all interesting. I don’t rate myself as much of a writer, I’m not much of a raconteur and my memory isn’t what it was but I’ll have a go and see what happens.

So where to start? In the absence of any other inspiration, I suppose the beginning is a decent point, though I’m not entirely sure where that is. Almost certainly it was a band called Wally and probably at the Harrogate Theatre on Sunday September 19^th 1976. There’s a chance that I’d seen them before at some other venue in Harrogate, they played at the Royal Hall in December 1974, but I have no tickets from this era though I still have a poster for the Harrogate Theatre gig so let’s start there.

So what do I remember about the gig? Virtually nothing. I’m not sure if I went with anybody, though I can remember talking to Paul Crowther about it the following day at school. Apparently the music had hit the resonant frequency of the spring that had been inserted in place of his stomach muscles and had made him feel decidedly ill. I’m sure I enjoyed it and I know it was loud. Really loud. Having only experienced music on the Dansette in my bedroom or down at the youth club, the volume of my music listening had been pretty low, so seeing  a real band in a decent venue introduced me to the knowledge that there was a whole new dimension to music listening.

The date here is probably quite significant. I was 16 and punk was about to hit with a force. Wally themselves were a progressive folk rock band and I was listening to a lot of that sort of stuff but then The Clash and The Stranglers et al changed all that.

I saw Wally a few more times after that, once at the Adelphi Hotel and also at The Royal Hall (both in Harrogate) before they finally split up after 2 albums, in 1978. After the death of the original keyboard player, Paul Gerret (more of whom later), in 2008, they reformed for a tribute show in April 2009 and have continued to play occasionally and record new material. I haven’t seen them in their reincarnation, somehow going back 35 years like that doesn’t seem right to me, though I still occasionally listen to their albums. Good luck to them though.

There were certainly other gigs around this time. I took Claire Exley to see Steeleye Span at the Royal Hall and even have a visual memory of sitting up in the circle on the right hand side. Heavy Metal Kids played there too and I know I considered going to see them but can’t remember if I did. But all these are only mere dalliances with live music as I was about to get into punk and Paul Gerret opened his music venue, PGs, in Harrogate…